Phase velocity of semi-diurnal internal waves at Ocean Weather Station T

Phase velocity of semi-diurnal internal waves is determined from differences between phases at three stations which were situated to form a triangle in the vicinity of sta. T (29N, 135E). The wave phases are estimated from temporal variations in depths of isotherms obtained from serial measurements of vertical temperature profiles at these stations. The measurements were carried out in cooperative operation of two vessels, the R. V.Tansei-maru and theNojima, during the period from 30 July to 1 August 1965. Wave propagation with the speed of about 2 m/s in the direction from east to west is obtained as an average over several isotherms of temperature from 19C to 23C. The area of measurement is to the west of Izu-Mariana ridge and the distance from the ridge to the station is about 500 km, which would be about 5 times as large as the wave length of the internal waves under consideration, and so it is possible to suppose that the internal waves observed generated at the ridge and propagated to the area without being subjected to serious refraction, scattering, reflection and decay.     

Changes of water temperature near Ocean Weather Station T before and after passage of a typhoon

Temperature field in the vicinal area of station T (29N, 135E) before and after Typhoon 6411 in summer 1964 is analysed from measurements with BT. At a location 68 km distant from the path of the typhoon, temperature at each depth became lower in the upper layer from surface to 50 m deep and became higher in the lower layer from 50 m to 130 m deep in connection with passage of the typhoon than temperature at each depth in these layers before the typhoon, respectively. Heat loss in the upper layer and heat gain in the lower layer are estimated to be almost comparable in amount. Equivalence in the heat gain and loss suggests that temperature changes were caused by vertical mixing due to strong wind of the typhoon. At a location 164 km distant from the path of the typhoon, however, heat gain of the lower layer from 35 m to 250 m deep exceeded heat loss of the upper layer from surface to 35 m deep. In addition to vertical mixing, horizontal advection or some other processes should be taken into account in order to explain the temperature changes in the area a little distant from the typhoon path. For recovery of the temperature changes at these locations 8 days were needed. This recovery time is almost equal to those in the case of some other typhoons, about which the discussion was made in the previous paper (Maeda, 1965).     

Grain size,La/Yb and Th/Sc of settling particles in the western North Pacific: Evidence for lateral transport of small Asian loess

To understand the transport process of lithogenic particles in the ocean, we measured the grain size distributions of lithogenic particles and measured the opal, La, Yb, Th, and Sc concentrations of the settling particles collected from time-series sediment traps at Sta. KNOT (44°N, 155°E, water depth 5320 m) from June 2002 to May 2004. The annual mean lithogenic particle flux observed at the lower sediment trap (5100 m) was twice as high as that at the upper sediment trap (770 m). The contribution of Asian loess estimated by the La/Yb and the Th/Sc ratios in the lower layer was greater than that in the upper layer. The fluxes of small lithogenic particles with sizes of 3–4 μm at the lower layer (5 to 65 mg/m²/day) were approximately four times larger than that at the upper layer (0.6 to 27 mg/m²/day). These results indicate that the horizontal addition of small particle sizes of Asian loess is a main factor in the increase of lithogenic particles at the lower layer. The temporal variations in the small lithogenic particle flux at the lower layer had a positive correlation with those at the upper layer (r = 0.71). The small lithogenic particle fluxes showed a strong positive correlation with the opal fluxes (r = 0.9). We therefore conclude that the small lithogenic particles were laterally transported and scavenged by the formation of aggregates with opal.     

Melting relations of peridotite and the density crossover in planetary mantles

Melting relations of primitive peridotite were studied up to 25 GPa. The change of the liquidus phase from olivine to majorite occurs at 16 GPa. We confirmed the density crossover of the FeO-rich peridotite melt and the equilibrium olivine (Fo₉₀) at 7 GPa. Sinking of equilibrium olivine (Fo₉₅) in the primitive peridotite melt was observed up to 10 GPa. The compression curves of FeO-rich peridotitic and komatiite melts reported in this and earlier work suggest that the density crossover in the Earth's mantle will be located at 11–12 GPa at 2000°C, consistent with an previous estimation by C.B. Agee and D. Walker.

The density crossover can play a key role in the Moon and the terrestrial planets, such as the Earth, Venus and Mars. Majorite and some fraction of melt could have separated from the ascending diapir and sunk downwards at the depths below the density crossover. This process could have produced a garnet-rich transition zone in the Earth's mantle. The density crossover may exist in the FeO-rich lunar mantle at around the center of the Moon. The density crossover which exists at the depth of 600 km in the Martian mantle plays a key role in producing a fractionated mantle, which is the source the parent magmas of the SNC meteorites.     

Annual and semiannual oscillations of stratospheric ozone

The global structures of annual oscillation (AO) and semiannual oscillation (SAO) of stratospheric ozone are examined by applying spherical harmonic analysis to the ozone data obtained from the Nimbus-7 solar backscattered UV-radiation (SBUV) measurements for the period November 1978 to October 1980. Significant features of the results are: (1) while the stratospheric ozone AO is prevalent only in the polar regions, the ozone SAO prevails both in the equatorial and polar stratospheres; (2) the vertical distribution of the equatorial ozone SAO has a broad maximum of the order of 0.5 (mixing ratio in g/g) and the maximum appears earlier at high altitude (shifting from May [and November] at 0.3 mb [60 km] to November [and May] at 40 mb); (3) above the 40 km level, the maximum of the polar ozone SAO shifts upward towards later phase with altitude with a rate of approximately 10 km/month in both hemispheres; (4) vertical distributions of the polar ozone AOs and SAOs show two peaks in amplitude with a minimum (nodal layer) in between and a rapid phase change with altitude takes place in the respective nodal layers; and (5) the heights of the ozone AO- and SAO-peaks decrease with latitude. The main part of AOs and SAOs of stratospheric ozone including hemispheric asymmetries is ascribable to: (i) temperature dependent ozone photochemistry in the upper stratosphere and mesosphere, (ii) variations of radiation field in the lower stratosphere affected by the annual cycle of solar illumination and temperature in the upper stratosphere and (iii) meridional ozone transport by dynamical processes in the lower stratosphere.     

Double-planed structure of the deep seismic zone in the northeastern Japan arc

A double-planed structure of deep seismic zone has been found over a wide area more then 300 km × 200 km in the Tohoku District, the northeastern part of Honshu, Japan. This prominent feature of the configuration of the deep seismic zone has been ascertained through a precise determination of the microearthquake hypocenters by using the data from the seismic network of Tohoku University. The two planes are nearly parallel to each other, the distance between the two planes being from 30 to 40 km.Composite focal mechanism solutions are derived from the superposition of the distribution of first motions of P waves, and the different fault types are obtained for the two groups of earthquakes; the earthquakes which occurred in the upper plane are characterized by reverse faulting, some of them by down-dip compressional stresses, and those in the lower plane by down-dip extensional stresses. The evidence obtained here provides valuable information for the definition of the type of mechanism producing the plate motion beneath the island arc.     

Coherency of rupture and seismic spectrum

In considering the seismic spectrum, one of the methods to incorporate irregularity of fault motion statistically is to introduce the concept of coherency of fracture. In a classic paper,Aki (1967) investigated the scaling law of seismic spectrum on the basis of a statistical model in which an exponentially decaying function is fitted to the autocorrelation function of the dislocation velocity. It is found, however, thatAki's model does not necessarily express irregular fault motion, but corresponds to a smooth dislocation. We show that an analytical function of dislocation velocity gives the same autocorrelation function and the same seismic spectrum as those ofAki's model. In actual fault motion, there is considerable evidence which indicates that the dislocation is not continuous and smooth over the whole fault plane, but is often segmented in several parts. In order to take into consideration this feature we introduce a generalized autocorrelation function of the dislocation velocity in which many coherent fractures smaller than the size of the fault dimension are included. It is shown that the more small-scale coherent fractures, the larger the seismic wave energy in the high frequency range.Kanamori andAllen (1986) showed that a large ratio of seismic wave energy relative to the seismic moment means a large effective stress drop. On the other hand, it is well known that when a fault plane is segmented in several parts, stress drop becomes large (e.g.,Madariaga, 1979;Rudnicki andKanamori, 1981). These two results are fused in our model, because we find that large seismic wave energy is obtained when the fault motion includes small-scale fractures.Kanamori andAllen (1986) also showed that there is a tendency for earthquakes with long repeat times to have a large effective stress drop. Our model implies that a fracture corresponding to earthquakes with long recurrence intervals is more complex, and the strength is large, as also suggested byCao andAki (1986) using a numerical simulation. It should be noted that to the zeroth order, an approximate scaling relation is observed among earthquakes, which means that a large earthquake consists of a relatively large-scale coherent fracture. This fact seems to suggest that the condition of occurrence of a large earthquake is related to the maturing of a source region in which a large coherent fracture becomes feasible.     

Numerical analysis on seepage failures of dike due to water level-up and rainfall using a water–soil-coupled smoothed particle hydrodynamics model

For seepage failures of dike due to water level-up and rainfall, surface infiltration and strength change induced by suction reduction are important factors; thus, numerical analysis should consider the coupling of water and soil, as well as the effect of saturation to obtain more precise failure mechanism. Based on the advanced smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method, this work proposed a two-phase-coupled SPH model in coordination with a novel constitutive model for unsaturated soils. Then, a triaxial compression test is simulated to check the applicability of the SPH method on the soil phase. After that, the failure test of a dike due to water level-up is discretized and simulated, from which the seepage process, the distribution of maximum shear strain, the slip surface, and pore water pressure are obtained. The two-phase-coupled SPH model is also applied to a slope failure test of heavy rainfall, and the results are compared to the model test. Finally, a dike failure test due to rainfall is analyzed using the proposed SPH model to reproduce the surface infiltration and suction reduction. The proposed SPH model provides several insights of seepage failures and can be a helpful tool for the analysis of dike failures induced by water level-up and rainfall.     

Flow behavior and microstructures of hydrous olivine aggregates at upper mantle pressures and temperatures

Deformation experiments on olivine aggregates were performed under hydrous conditions using a deformation-DIA apparatus combined with synchrotron in situ X-ray observations at pressures of 1.5–9.8 GPa, temperatures of 1223–1800 K, and strain rates ranging from 0.8 × 10^?5 to 7.5 × 10^?5 s^?1. The pressure and strain rate dependencies of the plasticity of hydrous olivine may be described by an activation volume of 17 ± 6 cm³ mol^?1 and a stress exponent of 3.2 ± 0.6 at temperatures of 1323–1423 K. A comparison between previous data sets and our results at a normalized temperature and a strain rate showed that the creep strength of hydrous olivine deformed at 1323–1423 K is much weaker than that for the dislocation creep of water-saturated olivine and is similar to that for diffusional creep and dislocation-accommodated grain boundary sliding, while dislocation microstructures showing the [001] slip or the [001](100) slip system were developed. At temperatures of 1633–1800 K, a much stronger pressure effect on creep strength was observed for olivine with an activation volume of 27 ± 7 cm³ mol^?1 assuming a stress exponent of 3.5, water fugacity exponent of 1.2, and activation energy of 520 kJ mol^?1 (i.e., power-law dislocation creep of hydrous olivine). Because of the weak pressure dependence of the rheology of hydrous olivine at lower temperatures, water weakening of olivine could be effective in the deeper and colder part of Earth’s upper mantle.     

Use of Statistical Models to Analyze Periodic Seismicity Observed for Clusters in the Kanto Region, Central Japan

—A periodic pattern of seismicity has been reported for the Kinugawa cluster in the Kanto region, where several earthquake clusters are observed at depths between 40 and 90 km. To analyze this periodicity, statistical studies are performed for the Kinugawa cluster together with eight other clusters. Hypocentral parameters of the earthquakes with magnitudes 4.5 and larger for the period between 1950 and 1995 are taken from the JMA catalogue. The simple sinusoidal function, the exponential of sinusoidal function and the stress release model are applied as the intensity function. Model parameters are determined by the maximum likelihood method and the best model for each cluster is selected by using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). In six cases the sinusoidal model or the exponential of the sinusoidal model is selected as the best option and achieves AIC reductions of values between 2.4 and 13.2 units from the simple Poisson model. The stress release model is selected for two clusters. The three clusters, the Kinugawa, Kasumigaura, and Choshi clusters, have a similar optimal period of about 10 years, and align in the northwest–southeast direction at a similar depth range of 40 to 70 km. A model modified from the stress release model is applied to the three clusters so to analyze the relationship among them. In the modified model, an earthquake occurrence in one zone increases the stress in the other zone, which is different from the original stress release model which assumes a linear increase with time. Applying the modified model to the Kinugawa cluster, an AIC reduction from the Poisson model is significantly larger than the value obtained with the sinusoidal model. This suggests that the periodic seismicity observed for the Kinugawa cluster can be explained with the more comprehensive model than the sinusoidal model.